My Pontiac Torrent Brakes?

[ryan]

Hello,
My brakes are squeaking horribly and I want to replace them. I want to buy my own brakes however. I checked on tirerack.com and they ask if my car is AWD or FWD. I dont know the answer. Does it matter? Also they only offered me the front brake pads and not the rear. Do my rear pads not need replaced? Can someone help me decide where to buy these and how many to buy.

 

[Oreif]

If it says "AWD" on the right of rear door, It's AWD.
As for brakes, Look at the rear brakes. If they look like the front, You have 4-wheel disc brakes. If they look like they have a cap over them they are drum brakes.
Once you have that info, Go to NAPA and pick up the front pads and rear shoes/pads.
On the front look at the metal surface. If there are grooves in the metal you are going to need new rotors as well.

Changing the fronts (or the rears if they are disc brakes) is not hard to do. If the rears are drum brakes, They are a little harder to do. The key point on the drum brakes is remembering how the springs hook up.

Generally the rear brakes do not wear as fast as the front brakes. My front brakes last about 35,000 miles and the rear last about 60,000. so depending on the mileage will depend on if you need to change the rear.